The Witzard

The Roots 1994: B.R.O.THER ?, HUB, Malik B. & Black Thought (SOURCE: Hip Hop Nostalgia) As tight and insular a unit as The Roots can be, a great deal of their identity is rooted in their open and experimental approach to collaboration. Throughout the band's life, they've brought in a revolving cast of vocalists, poets, emcees, singers, and DJ's [who] laid down their own unique contributions to The Roots' sound. Like each of the band's albums that followed it, Do You Want More?!!!??! (DYM?!!!??!) is packed with outstanding performances from guests. Here are five great guest spots on Do You Want More?!!!??! Rufus Harley North Carolina-born bagpiper, Rufus Harley spent most of his life in Philadelphia's Germantown and North Philly sections. An unsung innovator, Harley would spend the 60's and 70's carving out a space for the bagpipes in Jazz with his delightful, Soul-Jazz records for the Atlantic label, as well as his highly spiritual Jazz cla...

"After dropping "Trunk of My Computer" video from the #STSxRJD2 album, STS , Black Thought , and Truck North put [their] MMJB twist on RJD2 's classic Mad Men theme song, "Beautiful [Mine]." Produced by The Wurxs for [their] Wurxs of Art project coming soon," Philly emcee Sugar Tongue Slim (STS) wrote Tuesday afternoon on his Soundcloud accompanying "Mad Men Jam Boys." The Wurxs -produced remix of RJD2 's Mad Men theme, "A Beautiful Mine," is the unofficial return to form of Roots affiliated crew, Money Making Jam Boys , which consists of Roots emcee Black Thought , STS , Truck North , Greg P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw (who are noticeably absent here). MMJB 's first and only release thus far was their Denzel Washington -approved 18-track debut, The Prestige: Jam Boy Magic way back in 2010. Its members have remained far from silent in the five years since The Prestige : Black Thought & The Roots have ...

Let me just start out by saying that I've been a die-hard Roots fan for about 10 years now, since The Tipping Point (2004). But after seeing The Legendary Roots Crew LIVE @ House of Blues last night [Dec. 28th], while their frequently-released studio albums are great sounding, they pale in comparison to the band's FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC stage show. We're talking about a gang of Classically -trained musicians playing blazin' solos and breaks... synchronized Motown dance routines throughout and when drummer ?uestlove accidentally pummeled into the wrong beat mid-song, he and his Philly -bred buddies just laughed it off and kept going. The best damn thing about a Roots show is the sheer unexpected, versatility of the material to pull from - Nearly 14 records -worth of Hip-Hop/Deep Soul , a feat which most seasoned Rock "N" Roll bands couldn't even rival. Black Thought & ?uestlove proceeded to lead bandmates Captain Kirk, Tuba Gooding Jr., Frank...

The more I think about it, it's really just a coming-of-age type thing that almost all of us go through @ some point during our mid 20-early 30's: admitting that an old friend/fling is now just "somebody that [you] used to know." And that sheer, simplistic candor is exactly what makes Gotye 's similarly-titled 2011-12 break-out hit single so gosh darn relate-able! The quintessential track @ the heart of all this, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was only semi-recently knocked off Modern Rock radio charts by "Call Me Maybe;" Not surprisingly, there has to be close to 28,000+ fan covers and parodies uploaded to YouTube . A number of well-known Hip-Hop producers have taken a shot @ remixing "Somebody That I Used to Know" ... Chuck Inglish , Dice Raw, Sugar Tongue Slim , and DJ Tiesto . Making Mirrors , which is actually Gotye 's third album, is now available for purchase/enjoyment on both sides of "the pond." "Rel...

I Admit by Aaron Livingston Philly Reggae-Soul singer Aaron Livingston has laid down some vocal tracks for 2 separate Roots albums, The Tipping Point (2004) and their latest effort, undun . Therefore making Livingston an "Honorary Roots Member" and putting him amongst the [fine] company of John Legend , Mos Def, Blu , Dice Raw, Sugar Tongue Slim , and Peedi Crakk. Aaron Livingston 's most recent full-length project, an RJD2 -produced album titled The Abandoned Lullaby was released back in Fall 2011. While Livingston's solo discography may appear to be pretty "scattered," he's also recorded tracks with Hot Sugar , The Mean, Young Vipers , and Hezekiah... as well as Greatest Hits, Vol. -1 . That aforementioned "Odds & Sods" compilation album is available for $5.00 (FREE) download over at Bandcamp , along with a slew of slightly-dated, yet fleshed out loosies. "I Admit" was unveiled on Thurs. May 3rd , but kind of cast a...

Here's the new "Game of Thrones" (Freestyle) that I did over Gotye 's "Somebody That I Used to Know." Just a year after my car accident, I've put out more music than I have in my whole career! I will continue to release plenty more in the up-coming year, including the next installments of The Greatest Rapper Never trilogy: "Transformation" and "The Realization." I'll also continue to grow the Raw Life label... So, take a second to check out Young Gliss, Rone , Les Professionnels , and other artists we'll be working with in the future. - Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins

Let's face it, "orchestral" and "concept album" are basically taboo words in The World of Hip-Hop ; Terms which are not generally met with the most positive fanfare. Though, there are of course exceptions for every rule: Kendrick Lamar 's incredible 2011 mixtape street album, #Section80 - A fictionalized account of this generation's all too real prescription drug dependency and alarmingly high tolerance... and The Roots' just-released [Dec. 6] landmark 13th commercial effort, undun . Over the course of it's 14 tracks, ?uestlove & The Roots Crew effectively flesh out the life story of one Redford Stephens , undun 's titular character. Stephens' primary traits were grafted from a number of real life inspirational sources including The Guess Who , Sufjan Stevens' "Redford" character (Michigan) , Black Thought 's own friends-family, and a few small-time Philly drug dealers. Frequent Roots collaborators Dice Raw,...

While the majority of their peers are busy rapping about bitches, drugs, and money ... The Roots spend the bulk of their time producing Conscious Hip-Hop , concerning the trials and tribulations of life. I've personally been an avid Roots aficionado since first hearing "Don't Say Nuthin'" and it's accompanying album, The Tipping Point (2004). But many fans may be most familiar with the Philly 8-piece because of their 2003 commercial break-out single, "The Seed (2.0);" De facto re-envisioning of Cody ChesnuTT 's own Funky original composition. The band really is so much more than "Hip-Hop," a group made up of true musicians, actively led by drummer ?uestlove since 1987. Between albums #9-10 [counting "The Roots Come Alive" ] The Roots Crew became the official in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , fully on board for it's 2009 debut. For what it's worth, How I Got Over was hands down my favourite alb...